Happy Easter 2023
Tag: Easter
Decorated Eggs
It is spring! At least the calendar shows that, though lately, it’s been hard to tell. One morning you get up and there’s snow on the ground, the next day it’s 70 degrees. The grass and the trees are greening up, so I hope the cold weather is done. A little rain would be nice. The only thing consistent seems to be the wind. Tomorrow is another day of high wind gusts and very high fire danger, not just here but from Arizona and New Mexico all the way up to South Dakota. Hang on to your hats!
I’ve been doing a lot of tatting the last few weeks. Not necessarily a lot to show, but putting knots in thread steadily. Some things have worked out, some have not. Being the Easter season I have done a little egg decorating and that has worked out – mostly.
I did the egg in purple first. It has a mistake that shall remain hidden on the back of the egg. I did not do enough repeats on the bottom tatting to match the top so the bare thread stitching does not match up correctly. The bottom would have looked much better if I had done it right. As I made it just to be making it, it is just fine the way it is. I used Lizbeth # 632 Purple Med in size 20.
I made the pink one next. I used a thread I was given by a neighbor that his wife had used. It is DMC #224 Shell Pink – Very Light in size 10. I wouldn’t usually use size 10 on eggs of this size, but it was handy and I was feeling a bit nostalgic. I had taught my neighbor’s wife how to tat years ago and still feel her loss. I used the medallion pattern that I designed five years ago for Palmetto Tat Days. Figuring out how to hold these to the egg proved interesting.
The light blue egg is done in Lizbeth # 651 Med Blue in size 20. I had been using this for something else I was working on and had some left on the shuttles. I used the same medallion pattern, but it fits much differently when done in size 20 than it does in size 10. I like how the bottom part came out but the top part not so much. I might need to come up with something different – next year.
The eggs I used were some I bought from Joann’s. Back in February when they put out the Easter things I found a bag of 18. They are the size of chicken eggs, nicer to work with than the plastic ones that come apart for candy, and much less fragile than real eggs. I have decided that I must find a better way to hold the two ends on the egg while finishing them. It was a pain to keep them in place while trying to stitch them together with the bare thread. And that is an issue I will address next year.
“The difference between involvement and commitment is like ham and eggs. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed. Martina Navratilova”
Decorated Eggs 2021
Last week I thought I wouldn’t be decorating any Easter eggs with tatting. But during the week I found the box that had the fake eggs I bought several years ago. Then I decorated them with just a touch of tatting, not encasing them. This year I was inspired by so many people encasing the eggs with tatting that I decided to give it a try.
This is tatted with Lizbeth # 662, Turquoise Lt., a ball that was in a box of miscellaneous tatting things I found in my craft room, one of many such boxes. This color was found in one of the first boxes I went through that day and goes well with the pink egg.
This egg is the size of a real hen’s egg. Doesn’t it look real? It is light but not fragile like a real egg; I didn’t have to worry about dropping it. (Drop it? Me?!) If I did this pattern again I would definitely change the very top, so that each ring of the next round could attach to it. The second round does stay up okay, but I think it would look better joined to the top. This is my pattern, made in four rounds plus the bare thread used to sew the top and the bottom together.
When this one was finished, I tried something else on a much smaller, wooden egg.
This one is made with only two rounds, a bottom round with the top added next, then a thread going through each of the picots of the top to enclose the egg. I don’t use a picot gauge very often but I did while making this. Did you notice that the egg isn’t painted? I thought about painting it, but decided I’d rather just leave it as is.
I used the same thread on both. It looks about right on the larger egg but a smaller thread would have been better on the small one, don’t you think? Give it a more delicate look.
I have these eggs hanging from the bottom of the light shade next to my computer. Other than that I don’t have any Easter or spring decorations out. As I have the decorated eggs from 2016, maybe I’ll put those out as well. Will I decorate any more? I’m not sure.
International tatting day is coming up on April 1st, just over a week away. I’m still trying to decide if I’m going to do anything special for it, or just make sure I have chocolate and time to tat. How about you? Any plans?
A true friend is someone who thinks that you are a good egg even though he knows that you are slightly cracked. Bernard Meltzer
Evening tatting
I’ve had a bit more time to tat lately, a couple of unplanned evenings at home. Not a bad thing. I listened to a couple of audio books while I tatted, which made them very nice evenings.
I started the individual medallions of this coaster a week or so ago, with three of the medallions joined. I was just playing around with the thread, no pattern in mind. I decided to add a fourth, which looked a bit unfinished, so I added the round of silver. It’s not quite three inches (75 mm) across. I’ve been debating whether to add a silver ring, or rings, to the center, but haven’t tried that yet. What do you think?
I used Lizbeth #320 Steel Blue Metallic and #190 Silver Ice Metallic for this. The pictures just don’t show up that metallic look very well.
I was thinking of Easter and Easter eggs when I tatted around this button. I was aiming for an egg shape. It kind of looks egg shaped, doesn’t it?
Whatever the shape, I enjoyed making this. It is in Lizbeth #632 Purple Medium size 20 and about 2 1/2 inches (65 mm) across. If I do it again I’ll do the top just a bit differently using either a SCMR or a ring below the clover.
For a while, I had not had much enthusiasm for tatting, reading and web surfing instead. I’m happy that I’ve gotten back into the swing of it.
“One thought driven home is better than three left on base” Fortune cookie
Eggs, blooms, smoke and snow
I had a chance to decorate Easter eggs this week. Nothing elaborate, but fun.
We didn’t cook any eggs to color this year. They have eggs at the store that look almost real, and all you have to do is decorate. My daughter bought two dozen white ones for the kids to decorate. I thought I was picking up the same thing except colored, ready for stickers or coloring.
They were chalkboard eggs. They even came with a package of chalk.
I used colored pencils instead. Along with a bit of tatting, of course.
I had a lot of fun with these though I only finished three eggs. I guess I have some to work on for next year.
A couple of weeks ago I mentioned how many of the ornamental pear trees were blooming. There are a few of those still pretty though most have greened to leaves now. But the Flowering Crab Apple and Redbud trees are now in full bloom.
In the last week or so there was a hard freeze but it doesn’t look like it did a lot of damage. Well, I don’t have a garden or fruit trees so I could be wrong, but there are a lot of trees and flowers still blooming.
This is a Flowering Crab Apple tree in my daughter’s yard and it is beautiful!
The sky has been other than blue over the last week. There have been several large wild fires in the state that created a lot of smokey skies and caused ash to fall miles from the fires. The fires are very hard to contain when the wind is blowing 40+ miles an hour.
A smokey sunset seen from where I work in Wichita. I missed being outside when all the ash was falling.
We finally got a little moisture Easter Sunday. In the form of a beautiful snow fall.
The view from the bedroom window about 8:00 a.m. Easter morning.
This was about an hour later. Check out that blue, blue sky!
It was a perfect snow. The roads were clear, the snow only lasted for the day and it was perfect for making snow balls. It did mean that the grandchildren had their egg hunt in the house, but they didn’t seem to mind too much.
This Friday, April 1st, is International Tatting Day. The two ladies I get together to tat with, my sister, and I are planning to be at the Montana Mike’s Steak House in McPherson for lunch. We’ll have our tatting and chocolate out and I know we’ll be having a great time. If there is anyone in the neighborhood that would like to join us there you would be quite welcome! We plan on getting there about 11:30 a.m. and taking a long lunch.
What are your plans for ITD?
“If an egg is broken by an outside source, life ends.
If an egg is broken by an inside force, then life begins.
Great things happen from the inside.”
Simple gifts
I took a page out of Diane’s book 🙂 and added buttons to several headbands. Diane talks about some of hers in this post on her blog Lace-lovin’ Librarian. She’s been crocheting around buttons but I put tatting around mine instead.
I have tatted around buttons before but never thought to put them on this kind of hair accessory. It adds a little something to these bright but plain headbands that’s quick and simple. And fun. They were gifted to my daughters and granddaughters for Easter.
Last year I tatted around buttons when I made Easter eggs. This year I put a few of them on paper clips as simple gifts for my mother and her sisters. They make really great toppers for them.
On a sad note a friend of mine lost an aunt the week before Easter. I gave him one of my go-to sympathy gifts of a cross bookmark which was put inside the card.
As usual I just had to try for something a little different. This cross is made in Lizbeth #115 Springtime in size 20. I’m not that happy with this pattern, probably because I had trouble making it even though it is a simple pattern. I was a little distracted and I kept making mistakes. And I’m not sure I like the center. It did turn out better than I thought once it was blocked, which straightened it out. I should have joined each arm to the center in more than the one place to make it a bit more stable. Maybe next time.
Do you have any favorite things you give for simple gifts?
“Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness.”
Richard Bach
www.brainyquote.com
Disclaimer: There were no books hurt in the production of this blog post
Paper and lace Easter egg
I was visiting Carolyn’s blog ‘Shopping My Stash’ and saw how she has been tatting on paper, recently dong Easter eggs. I thought it looked like fun and decided to try it myself
Paper and lace Easter egg
The cross in the center is a sticker, the thread is Lizbeth Ecru #603 in size 20.
It’s a simple project that took me forever to get going. First I decided to buy a 1/8″ punch for the holes. The day after I bought one I found I already had one, in an unopened package no less. Then I decided on the cross for the center and had to find paper and thread that worked with it. This had me going through my scrap-booking paper to find that the ones that I liked the best were not on card stock. I did eventually find paper I liked that would work. When I finally made my choices and cut the paper I ruined one of them by not paying close enough attention to where I punched the holes. As you can see on this one I could have paid closer attention to punching these holes, as well, but they are much better than the previous one.
I obviously wasn’t thinking things through when I started tatting on this. On the first ring I made the first picot pretty short (which will be the final join) but the third picot long enough to reach the ring that will be in the next hole. Why I didn’t fix that first picot I don’t know, but it became an issue in the end, of course. I faked it at the end, and though it’s visible, I don’t think it came out too bad. I added a loop of narrow ecru ribbon at the top so it can be hung up. Originally I had thought to make an extra ring at the top to hang it from, but I didn’t like the look when I tried it.
I am pleased with how it came out. I also have a better idea of what I’m going to do if I make any more of these. Or anything similar. Thank you, Carolyn, for the inspiration and the tips on this paper and lace project.
I’m thinking about doing a few of these with old Christmas cards and giving them to family and close friends as my yearly ornament. If I start now I might have a few done in time. It depends on how hard it is to pick out the thread…
I ended up giving this to a friend of mine whose aunt had died the week before Easter. I also gave him a tatted cross bookmark, my usual sympathy gift. It just seemed appropriate.
“A portion of your soul has been entwined with mine. A gentle kind of togetherness, while separate we stand. As two trees deeply rooted in separate plots of ground, while their topmost branches come together, forming a miracle of lace against the heavens.”
Janet Miles
http://www.searchquotes.com/
Tatting in the dark
Remember when I added tatting to several lamps shades?
I had gone to a bit of work to come up with a way to show it off , finally decorating cans. I like how they turned out, but they didn’t give out a lot of light, more of a glow.
I ended up using one of the lamp shades this weekend but displayed it a little differently.
This is a Dollar Store goblet with the puck light inside. It’s a smaller puck light than the ones I had tried last time, but it turns on the same, by pressing the center. The goblet puts an interesting pattern on the shade, doesn’t it? It also allows it to be quite a bit brighter. What a way to show tatting in the dark.
Why didn’t I think of this sooner?
Okay, I saw the idea on Pinterest, but it was saying to use tea lights. I’m sure this is a bit brighter than using a tea light.
And I wanted brighter.
Because we didn’t have any power.
A thunderstorm went through the area early, early Friday morning (April 3) and did a lot of damage to some of the area. We were fortunate that we only had a bit of rain and not all the strong winds that hit not very far from here. But we did loose power for 22 hours. Which isn’t bad, as the electric company was projecting over three days before power would be restored.
This put a kink in our weekend, to say the least. My husband got out the generator and we rotated what got plugged in – well house, refrigerator, freezer, etc. We grilled our lunch and went out for supper Friday. We were prepared for no electric for several days but were very happy it came on sooner.
But everything I was going to do Friday pretty much didn’t happen. And then Saturday we celebrated Easter over at one of our daughter’s house, which was for most of the day. There was no time Sunday to do everything we had planned for the long weekend, so lots of things didn’t get done.
But that’s okay. We are okay, didn’t have any damage, had a wonderful time visiting family and had a blessed Easter.
That’s a lot of light to go with the dark.
“I will love the light for it shows me the way, yet I will endure the darkness for it shows me the stars.”
Og Mandino
www.goodreads.com
Oh, look! It’s a puppy!
The other day we happened by a yarn shop in Wichita called “twist”. Some yarn shops have a few things that are of interest to tatters like me that don’t knit or crochet so I stopped in. They didn’t have any shuttles though they did carry several shades of Nazli Gelin Garden 10 thread, the brand I am making my vest out of. But sometimes you can find some interesting things with the accessories – the stitch markers, tip guards, that type of thing.
And look what I found – a puppy!
A tiny pair of snip scissors shaped like a puppy. They had these in kitty shape also, but they were down to green puppies and orange kitties and orange is way down on my list of favorite colors. It was suggested that I make sure it works okay before I bought it as sometimes they don’t cut well. A few snips on a scrap piece of yarn proved I had a good one and it was mine.
This is a regular-sized Clover shuttle beside it so you can see that it’s a pretty small pair of snips. Just the right size to carry in a tatting kit. I’m pretty sure most airlines wouldn’t have a problem with these.
We had a wonderful Easter this year. The weather was wonderful and most of the family was able to get together. On one side of the family we had dinner and an Easter egg hunt on Saturday, then Sunday after church we had lunch with the other side of the family.
A few weeks ago I mentioned I had an idea for all the Rainbow Splash Easter eggs I was making. Believe it or not I was able to put it together just in time for the weekend. My version of an egg tree, except mine had bunny faces and baskets on it, too.
I found it a bit difficult to take a picture of it, though. Far enough away to get the whole thing in was almost too far away to see what was on it. It actually looked pretty good as decoration.
Then I decided to share with family. I took the tatted pieces off the tree and glued them to wood shapes then put magnets on the back. At each of the dinners I let the women of the family have a choice of one. (The kids were busy with Easter egg treats and the guys were – guys)
The magnets were well received. At least no-one turned then down 🙂
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I’m enjoying a cup of Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Green Tea in a cup decorated with cherry blossoms. It has a very “spring” feel to it, with all the blossoms. The cup and saucer are edged in a light green that just matches the green in one of my tatted doilies.
I can’t remember where I got this set, from my mother or at an antique shop (most antique shops around here carry a lot of things that aren’t strictly speaking antiques). It’s Rosina bone china from England, though it doesn’t specify the design. It is adding a bright, spring accent to my tea today.
“Come, let us have some tea and continue to talk about happy things.”
Chaim Potok
www.dumb.com
Not over the rainbow
Rainbow Splash thread that is. I keep making things with it!
A couple of weeks ago, one of my grandsons asked for a ‘rainbow mouse’. I didn’t think I had any thread that quite fit the term ‘rainbow’ so I sent my daughter the email address of Handy Hands and asked them to choose a thread. They thought #184, Rainbow Splash was just perfect.
A small order to Handy Hands and I had a ball of the requested color.
“Morgan Mouse” © Wanda Salmans
#184 Lisbeth Rainbow Splash size 20
I’m somewhat picky about variegated threads. I think a lot look really great on the ball but then am unhappy with how they work up. I also am not usually happy with threads that have a lot of different colors on them, preferring shades of similar colors instead – like all blues, or pinks, or whatever. But I am very happy with Rainbow Splash!
I needed four mice, two going to each of my daughter’s houses, so I had to make a couple a little different. One of the mice (second from the right) has blue eyes, and the one on the right has Flora #207 size 20 for the rings. It wasn’t an exact match but I don’t think my granddaughter will object. You’ll also note that I used washers in the center instead of jewelry findings.
After finishing the mice I had still had thread on the shuttles. Being spring with Easter on the way, what better way to use such bright, spring-y thread than Easter eggs?
Simple ring and chain button Easter eggs in #184 Lizbeth Rainbow Splash size 20
I have a package of bright-colored buttons in colors that were right in line with the Rainbow Splash thread. These button Easter eggs are so quick and easy I just couldn’t stop making them. They are very nice little doodles to make while in the car. I added a pin back to several of them and gave one of them to my mother. She really liked it. I actually have an idea to use these, we’ll just see if I have time to put it together. Before Easter 🙂
Today for Tatting Tea Tuesday I had just a drop of tea
☺
The teacup is part of a doll-size tea set I found on Ebay. Isn’t it cute? So dainty with such pretty flowers.
The shuttle is a decorated Boye shuttle.
Rainbows, Easter eggs and flowers – it must be spring!
“I’ve always taken ‘The Wizard of Oz’ very seriously, you know. I believe in the idea of the rainbow. And I’ve spent my entire life trying to get over it.”
Judy Garland
www.brainyquote.com